Request for Proposal (RFP) -Media and Digital marketing firms -No. RFP-JTAP-004

How to apply

Attachment II

INSTRUCTIONS TO OFFERORS

A. General Instructions

These Instructions to Offerors will not form part of the offer or of the Contract. They are intended solely to aid Offerors in the preparation of their proposals. Read and follow these instructions carefully.

1. The proposal and all corresponding documents related to the proposal must be written in the English language, unless otherwise explicitly allowed. Additionally, all proposals should be single-spaced with clear section headings, and be presented in the order specified in Attachment III – Evaluation Criteria.
2. Proposals must include only the Offeror’s own work. No text should be copied from sources outside of your organization, unless those sources are adequately cited and credited. If Creative determines that any part of the proposal is plagiarized from outside sources, the Offeror will be automatically disqualified.
3. Proposals and all cost and price figures must be presented in local currency. All prices should be gross of tax, but net of any customs duties. A firm fixed price purchase order will be issued to the successful offeror in local currency as per requirement of local Law.
4. The Offeror must state in their Proposal the validity period of their offer. The minimum offer acceptance period for this RFP is 90 days after closing date of the RFP. If an Offeror has provided a validity period of less than 90 days, they will be asked to revise this. If the Offeror does not extend the validity period, their proposal will be rejected. Creative reserves the right not to make an award.
5. The Technical Proposal and Cost/Business Proposal must be kept separate from each other. Technical Proposals must not make reference to cost or pricing information at any point. This will enable in order the technical evaluation to be made strictly on the basis of technical merit.
6. Offerors must be licensed and authorized to conduct business in Jordan, as evidenced by submission of a copy of a valid Business License (if registered as a for-profit company), a valid Host Government license (if registered as a non-profit organization) or a municipal license (if registered as a local vendor of goods or import-export dealer). The copy of the license must clearly show a license number, official government stamp and a date of issue and date of expiry.
7. Common ownership of Offerors shall be documented in their proposal. Creative will only accept one company bidding per RFx. If Creative determines common ownership of multiple Offerors, all will be disqualified
8. No costs incurred by the Offerors in preparing and submitting the proposal are reimbursable by Creative. All such costs will be at the Offeror’s expense.
9. Responsibility Determination: Award shall only be made to “responsive” subcontractors. To enable Creative to make this determination, the Offeror must provide a cover letter, as provided in Attachment IV.
10. Late Offers: Offerors are wholly responsible for ensuring that their Offers are received in accordance with the instructions stated herein. A late Offer will be recommended for rejection, even if it was late as a result of circumstances beyond the Offeror’s control. Late offers will only be considered at the procurement department’s discretion.
11. Modification/Withdrawal of Offers: Offerors have the right to withdraw, modify or correct their offer after it has been delivered to Creative at the address stated above, and provided that the request is made before the RFP closing date.
12. Disposition of Proposals: Proposals submitted in response to this RFP will not be returned. Reasonable effort will be made to ensure confidentiality of proposals received from all Offerors. This RFP does not seek information of a highly proprietary nature, but if such information is included in the Offeror’s proposal, the Offeror must alert Creative and must annotate the material by marking it “Confidential and Proprietary” so that these sections can be treated appropriately.
13. Clarifications and Amendments to the RFP: Any questions regarding this solicitation must be emailed to TapProcurement@crea-jtap.com . No questions/clarifications will be entertained if they are received by another means. The solicitation number should be stated in the subject. Responses will be complied and emailed to the requesting potential Offeror, and will be sent to all organizations that requested this RFP, or re-posted publicly if offered as a full and open competition. **
14. Creative anticipates that discussions with Offerors will be conducted; however, Creative reserves the right to make an award without discussions. It is strongly recommended that Offerors present their best offer. **
15. Eligibility of Firms – Source/Origin/Nationality: The authorized geographic code for the source and origin of the goods and services and for the nationality of our suppliers under this contract is 935. A full discussion of the source/origin/nationality requirements maybe found at 22 CFR 228 (see http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_02/22cfr228_02.html). Offerors whose proposals fail to meet the nationality requirements will be considered non-responsive.

Failure to agree and comply with any of the above specifications will result in the Offeror being considered unresponsive and the proposal may be rejected.

B. Submission of Proposal:

Proposals must be submitted in two separate e-mails:

1. E-mail 1 – Technical Proposal

2. E-mail 2 – Cost/Business proposal

Each e-mail should be clearly labeled with the RFP number and project title.

Proposals must be delivered no later than the specified date/time to the address below.

Creative Procurement Department
Amman, Wadi Saqra – 201 Arar St – 1^st Floor**

Offerors who do not submit their technical and cost proposals separately will be automatically disqualified.

C. Content of Proposal:

The proposal shall be comprised of four sections:

i. The Cover Letter (Attachment IV)

ii. Copy of the Offeror’s Valid Business license/Copy of commercial registration

iii. The Technical Proposal

iv. The Cost/Business Proposal – Excluding of sales tax as USAID-TAP is sales tax exempted

1) The Cover Letter: should be on the Offeror’s letterhead and MUST contain the information requested in Attachment IV.

2) Business License

3) Technical Proposal:

a. Should clearly & precisely address theoretical and practical aspects that the Offeror has considered and will employ to carry out the statement of work.

b. The Technical Proposal is the opportunity for the Offeror to demonstrate that the firm is “technically capable” of implementing the activity, and should demonstrate the Offeror’s understanding of and capabilities to carry out the work, and address the key issues described in the Evaluation Criteria in Attachment III.

c. The Technical Proposal should be divided into clearly separate sections following the same order of the Evaluation Criteria in Attachment III. A mis-ordered proposal that makes information hard to find will result in lower scores.

d. If an Offeror submits a proposal that fails to respond to the majority of the information requested in this RFP, as outlined specifically in the statement of work and the evaluation criteria, the Offeror’s proposal will be automatically disqualified.

4) The Cost/Business Proposal**:** must be submitted separately from the technical proposal and will primarily indicate the cost for performing the work specified in this RFP. At a minimum, the Cost/Business proposal should include the following information:**

a. A detailed budget that provides a break-down of costs by line item. Note that any indirect/overhead costs should be listed as a separate line item in the budget and should not be built into the direct costs. Use the budget template presented in the Evaluation Criteria, in Attachment III.

b. Bidders should not use any “loaded rates” for labor. Budgets should include base labor rates only. Forms with loaded rates (i.e. inclusive of staff bonuses or any other type of financial benefit) will be rejected.

c. Detailed and comprehensive cost notes that provides information on each of the line items in the budget and explains why these items are needed for implementation of the activity.

d. If indirect rates are charged, Offerors must provide supporting computations for the allocation for indirect/overhead costs,

Failure to comply with any of the above points will result in the Offeror being considered “unresponsive” and the proposal may be rejected.

If an Offeror provides insufficient information in their technical and/or cost proposal, Creative reserves the right to request additional information, or to request a revised proposal from the Offeror, if necessary.

Creative reserves the right to make no award, or multiple awards, under this RFP.

Attachment III**

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Basis of Award: The award will be made to the offeror whose offer presents the Best Value: the optimal combination of technical merits and reasonable cost. Proposals will be scored on technical factors first. Only the Cost/Business proposals of those offers that surpass the minimum qualifying score of 70 points in the technical evaluation will have their Cost/Business Proposal reviewed. Those that do not reach this qualifying score in the Technical Evaluation will be considered non-competitive and their Cost/Business proposals will not be considered.

EVALUATION CRITERIA

1. Technical Competence – presented in the Technical Proposal 100 points

A. Technical Approach 70 points

Provide a clear, specific and succinct technical proposal that covers both the conceptual and practical approaches of how to achieve the objectives of this project. Specifically, please address the following, in the order specified below:

Topic

Description

Points available

Quality of proposed methodology

Demonstrating a clear understanding the type of output/ services/ materials are expected-10 Points

Creativity of proposed approach and theme – 15 Points

Company profile/ Detailed Experience and Qualification-20 Points – 5 points each

1. Similar experience in marketing, e-marketing, and advertising
2. Experience in education
3. Working experience with international agencies, NGOs, and/or government experience
4. Working with the government/ ministry of education

Qualifications of Personnel -20 Points

Qualified CVs/team members with demonstrated experience in delivering similar scope of work.

Implementation Timeline

Provide clear time frame needed for each deliverable-15 Points

Past Performance/Reference check- 20 Points

Document and summarize your proven track record of successfully implementing similar activities to include a description of similar services provided in the past and any lessons learned that will be incorporated into the activity described in this RFP.

Offerors with past performance with similar projects, in the same geographic area and/or of similar scale to the activity described in this RFP will be scored more favorably than offerors that do not meet these criteria.

If an Offeror submits a proposal that fails to respond to the majority of the information requested in this RFP, as outlined specifically in the statement of work and the evaluation criteria, the Offeror’s proposal will be automatically disqualified.

Using the format provided below or equivalent , please list only the projects you have implemented within the past 3 years, a brief description of how each is relevant to this RFP and the contact details for each previous client or donor. You may also include recommendation/appreciation letters and certificates as attachments.

Offerors with past performance with similar projects, in the same geographic area and/or of similar scale to the activity described in this RFP will be scored more favorably than offerors that do not meet these criteria. Please note that Offerors cannot be evaluated on information that they do not provide. For example, if an Offeror has current/past performance working with Creative, they cannot be positively evaluated on this experience unless it is provided in the Offeror’s proposal.

Activity Title

Location(s) of activity

Synopsis of the activity and its relevance to this RFP

Performance period

Prime or Subcontractor?

Amount for the activity

Name & Contact Info (E-mail and phone) of client**

C. Attachments Not Scored

You may include recommendation/appreciation letters and certificates as attachments, or any other documentation you wish to further support your proposal, stapled/bound separately from the rest of the technical proposal. Content presented here will not be scored.

2. Cost Reasonableness & Financial Capability – presented in Cost/Business Proposal. Not Scored.

a) Submit a detailed budget to carry out this work. Creative’s review of the Cost Proposal shall determine if the overall costs proposed are realistic for the work to be performed, reflect a correct understanding of the project requirements, and are consistent with the Offeror’s Technical Proposal. Creative will also review individual line items and determine if they are allowable, allocable and reasonable.

The following is a format for the detailed budget. The Offeror may list any reasonable, allowable and allocable cost line items, but must follow the major categories listed below, breaking down all “lump sum” items as much as reasonably possible. Any indirect/overhead costs should be listed as a separate line item in the budget and should not be built into the direct costs.

Description

Unit (day/month)

Quantity

Unit Cost **

Total Price **

A) Program Staffing

B) Program Material and Equipment

C) Program Administration and Services

Total

Cost proposals providing more direct funding towards programming outputs and local labor, instead of staff salaries and administrative or overhead costs, will be reviewed more favorably.

b. Submit reasonably comprehensive budget narrative/ budget notes that provides information on each of the line items in the budget and explains why these items are needed for implementation of the activity.

c. If indirect rates are charged, Offerors must provide supporting computations for the allocation for indirect/overhead costs, a copy of an audit report and balance sheet, and a profit and loss (P&L)/income & expenditure / revenue & expenditure statement OR a copy of the current Negotiated Indirect Cost Rate Agreement (NICRA).

Best value determination for award

Creative will evaluate proposals on a best value basis, in accordance with the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) Subpart 15.1 – Source Selection Processes and Techniques. In all solicitations, Creative will consider and conduct an evaluation on the basis of both technical capacity and cost. The relative importance of these two factors will vary depending on the nature of the activity. In rare cases, Creative may also award to a firm other than the highest technically rated Offeror or the lowest price Offeror, in accordance with FAR 15.101-1.

Creative reserves the right to request additional supporting documentation or a revised proposal from an Offeror if insufficient information has been provided in the Offeror’s technical and/or cost proposal. If the requested information is not provided, Creative has the right to disqualify the firm from further consideration.